Vennard Bell Tobey, Jr.

Vennard Bell Tobey, Jr. died in Boston, Massachusetts on August 20th, 2000 from kidney failure. The son of Vennard Bell Tobey and Pearle Blanche Bates of Cambridge, Massachusetts and Chebeague Island, Maine, both deceased, Vennard Tobey was born in Portland, Maine on 26 August 1936. His sister, Gloria Tobey Perini of Jupiter, Florida, and three cousins survive him, Barbara Bates Marshall, of Longmeadow, Massachusetts and Chebeague Island, Leila Thayer Bisharat of Cairo, Egypt and Chebeague Island and George Wesley Bates of Tallahassee Florida and Chebeague Island. His ten nieces and nephews and their children, as well as the eight children, and grandchildren of his cousins were very important parts of his life as he was to them. He never forgot a one, or any of the family stories of each one's childhood. He welcomed each new arrival with joy and expectation, and was pleased when two new little boys, Orson and Sam, joined the family this year.

His lifelong home was Massachusetts, but Maine, and especially summering on Chebeague had a central place in his life. Loyal enough to the Red Sox to still be wearing their cap this August, he announced he was going to get a new hat, "I've given up on them." Ties to his family, Maine, Chebeague Island, and dreams for trips to the Island, Florida or abroad kept him determined to be active despite the constraints of dialysis.

"Brother" to his childhood friends, "Brother Tobey" to their spouses or Big Red to his old baseball team members or neighbors in Cambridge, was looking forward to celebrating his birthday on the 26th of August and hoped to be on Chebeague once again during the summer. It was in the fields of the Island that he consistently hit home runs over the stonewall as a boy, and it was here that he knew he could always find his steadfast friends as well as his family regrouping when summer came. He was considering another trip to Florida in the winter to see his sister and his "favorite niece, Tobey", and was delighted that "my Libby" had moved to Cambridge after finishing the Wharton School so that he would have her nearby. He was going to replace his Red Sox hat with a University of Pennsylvania Wharton School cap in Libby's honor.

A Burial Service will be performed by Rev. Robert Leon, Columbus Day Weekend, Saturday, October 7th, 11:00 at the Pine Grove Cemetery, Falmouth Foreside, Maine. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Baseball Field Fund of the Chebeague Recreation Center, PO Box 320, Chebeague Island, Maine 04017.